This session will summarize two studies using social network analysis to examine community agency ties and faculty ties across 140 Healthier Wisconsin Partnership Program (HWPP) awards during a 10-year period. This administrative research approach allows for objective analysis of the networks that support community-academic partnership projects, where most prior network research in community engagement has focused on subjective, ego-network methods.

In the first study, funder data was normalized to maximize number of interconnections between funded projects and 318 non‐redundant community partner organizations in a dual mode analysis, examining the period from 2003–2013. Two strategic planning periods, 2003–2008 vs. 2009–2013, allowed temporal comparison. In the second study, faculty-to-faculty ties as well as faculty-to-community ties were examined to explore the theorized boundary spanning nature of faculty working in community partnerships.

Considerations for government, funders, and communities are offered. Examining partnerships within health priority areas, orphaned projects, and inviting community elaboration of objectively obtained network data are areas for future research.

Lunch will be provided